Guns N’ Roses tops new Memorial Day weekend music-fest lineup

San Antonio has had a depressing lack of holiday-weekend music festivals for years. The old Fourth of July Freedom Fiesta vanished in the early ’90s; the disastrous Starfest crashed and burned after one awful Labor Day weekend back in 2000.

Maybe the just-announced Bud Light River City Rockfest will have better luck. Created by Spurs Sports & Entertainment with an assist from AEG Live, the day-long fest is set for Sunday, May 26, (not Saturday, May 25; corrected) on the grounds of the AT&T Center.

Calling the lineup “stellar,” Rick Pych, Spurs Sports & Entertainment President of Business Operations, added in a news release, “The long term goal is to develop the Bud Light River City Rockfest into an annual celebration of music that people can look forward to year after year.”

Let’s hope so.

As you might expect, the lineup goes for a puro San Antonio mix of hard rock and metal headlined by Guns N’ Roses, still fronted by Axl Rose and featuring longtime keyboardist Dizzy Reed, plus ex-Replacement Tommy Stinson on bass. Second-billed is Seattle grunge stalwart Alice in Chains, which reformed in 2005 after losing troubled singer Layne Staley to an overdose in 2002; guitarist Jerry Cantrell and the rhythm section of Sean Kinney and Mike Inez are still on board (original bassist Mike Starr died in 2010).

The undercard includes potent Texas rock band Halestorm, plus Bullet For My Valentine, Skillet, Austin old-school band The Sword, All That Remains, Clutch, Asking Alexandria, Young Guns, O’ Brother and San Antonio bands The Heroine and Memory of a Melody.

More bands will be announced. There will be multiple stages, plus a VIP area.

The promoters are looking for an early burst of support in the form of a $29.50 (plus fees) advance ticket available at 10 a.m. Wednesday. The price rises to $49.50 when the general-public sale begins March 22. There also will be a limited number of VIP tickets at $99.50 a pop.

River City is being billed as “the first music event of its kind to grace the grounds of the AT&T Center and is the largest festival conceived in South Texas.” That begs the question, what about Warped Tour? An AT&T Center spokesman said the new fest will have a different feel than Warped, which features dozens of bands playing 30-minute sets and no designated headliner.